Editor,
I agree with Mr. Michaels of Amboy that a roundabout on state Route 503 at Rock Creek Road is a disaster waiting to happen. To get out to 503, I take 319th Street, which is the street right next to the church. When I get to 503, I take my life in my hands to turn left or right, but it doesn’t take long, and I am able to get up to the speed of the other traffic. If a roundabout is put there, I will face a long back up of cars slowing down to navigate the roundabout, and I doubt I will be able to turn right or left due to the amount of traffic that is on 503 anytime of the day. The speed limit is a dream someone in the highway department determined and it ranges from 50 to 75+. In a 1-mile trip going south, I counted 19 double-rock trucks going north and south, and that is all day long. I am sure everyone who lives on 503 can attest to the heavy traffic and speed these trucks are doing. I can imagine that all of the trucks will drive right over the roundabout and in about two hours it will be demolished! And rightly so I think!
Having a stop light or sign on 503 would be the cause of miles of traffic that now uses that road on all hours and days of the week. Yes, Sundays are a bit clogged due to the church traffic, but that does not compare with the daily traffic. I can wait a few minutes on Sunday for church traffic.
So I am not mathematically adept, but just put 19 rock trucks and 20 cars on 503 at one time going 60+ mph, add one roundabout that slows the traffic to 10 to 15 mph and tell me how long it will take for me to turn south or north from 319th Street? I’m 77, and I don’t think I can wait that long to get to the store!
Please rethink this roundabout to allow a continuing stream of trucks and cars on 503 that will not hinder the ability of traffic to keep flowing down this speedway. And not hinder my ability and my many neighbors to be able to make a turn onto 503 without waiting a long period of time and entering the traffic jam that this will cause. I will ask if anyone from the road department spent several days standing at this location and measured the speed and flow of the traffic? Most of us think not! The answer to the traffic on 503 is more lanes, as Mr. Michaels stated.
Dixie A. Fuller
Battleground
